Bill Text: TX SCR10 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Designating September 12 as Mary Ann "Molly" Goodnight Day for a 10-year period beginning in 2013.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 2)
Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Signed by the Governor [SCR10 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-SCR10-Enrolled.html
| S.C.R. No. 10 | ||
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| WHEREAS, Accomplished Texans who serve as positive role | ||
| models for young people deserve special recognition, and Mary Ann | ||
| "Molly" Goodnight, Armstrong County pioneer and wife of Charles | ||
| Goodnight, embodied the strength and spirit that has made Texas an | ||
| enduring example to the rest of the country; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Molly Goodnight was born September 12, 1839, in | ||
| Madison County, Tennessee; she moved with her family to Fort | ||
| Belknap, Texas, in 1854; after the death of her parents, she worked | ||
| as a schoolteacher and took care of her five brothers; and | ||
| WHEREAS, She met Charles Goodnight in the mid-1860s, and they | ||
| married in 1870; the couple settled in Pueblo, Colorado, where | ||
| Charles had already established a ranch; drought and the Panic of | ||
| 1873 caused the family to return to Texas, where Charles received | ||
| backing from Irish investor John George Adair, who became his | ||
| partner; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The Goodnights founded a ranch in the Texas | ||
| Panhandle based in Palo Duro Canyon; Molly became doctor, nurse, | ||
| spiritual comforter, sister, and mother to the ranch hands who | ||
| worked there, but her most important role was wife and helpmate to | ||
| the most famous rancher on the High Plains; and | ||
| WHEREAS, She became interested in the plight of the baby | ||
| bison left behind by the commercial hunters who had ravaged the | ||
| great bison herds that roamed the Plains; recognizing that the | ||
| extinction of the bison was imminent, she encouraged her husband to | ||
| establish the Goodnight bison herd, which has since become the | ||
| Official State Bison Herd of Texas and is now located at Caprock | ||
| Canyons State Park; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Known as the Mother of the Panhandle of Texas, Molly | ||
| helped establish Goodnight College, and the town of Goodnight is | ||
| named in honor of her and her husband; Molly died in 1926, and her | ||
| headstone reads "Mary Ann Dyer Goodnight, One who spent her whole | ||
| life in the service of others"; she is truly deserving of this | ||
| signal honor for her pioneering work alongside her husband and her | ||
| visionary efforts to save the bison; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby designate September 12 of each year from 2013 through 2022 as | ||
| Mary Ann "Molly" Goodnight Day in honor of her work in saving the | ||
| herd of Texas Plains bison that is now the Official State Bison Herd | ||
| of Texas; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be prepared in honor | ||
| of the life and legacy of Mary Ann "Molly" Goodnight. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I hereby certify that S.C.R. No. 10 was adopted by the Senate | ||
| on March 21, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| I hereby certify that S.C.R. No. 10 was adopted by the House | ||
| on May 17, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 134, Nays 0, two | ||
| present not voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| Approved: | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
